March 29, 2005
THE JANE WIEDLIN STORY
We were America's sweethearts, but we weren't that sweet. - jane wiedlin
Future squeaky-voiced Go-Go Jane Marie Genevieve Wiedlin was born at 8:30AM May 20, 1958 in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. Learned to play Kumbaya on guitar at 12. Valley girl: attended Taft High School in San Fernando Valley (with Joan Jett).
On January 14 1978, Jane attended
Sex Pistols performance in San
Francisco that changed her life. Also in the audience: former Newbury Park high school
cheerleader Belinda Carlisle. The two met a few weeks later &
became roommates at Canterbury flophouse in West Hollywood. Wiedlin went by
Jane Drano,
while Carlisle went by Dottie Danger & played drums in punk band
the Germs, with soon-to-be rock suicide
Darby Crash.
Jane:
"The night before he died, I saw him at a club, & we were hanging out, which we never normally did, & he said, You know what, this is so stupid that we've never become friends. We should get together more. And I'm like, That would be great. And we traded phone numbers & then the next day he was dead."
With Jane on rhythm guitar, she & singer Carlisle formed punk band
the Misfits with bassist Charlotte Caffey (from the Eyes, which featured future X
drummer DJ Bonebrake) & drummer Gina Schock,
formerly of Edie & the Eggs (backup
band for John Waters pinup
Edith Massey).
Eventually added Kathy Valentine. Jane renamed band the Go-Go's one night at a Denny's restaurant.
May 31 1978: First Go-Gos performance at the Masque (in basement of porno theater). Belinda Carlisle: "Everyone in the audience was either horrified or laughing hysterically." Manager landed gigng UK ska tour for Madness, the Specials, & Bodysnatchers (7-member all-girl band that became the Belle Stars). Jane:
"It was horrible, everyone hated us because we weren't ska, we weren't even British, & we were chicks, & so we would just get spit at & bottles thrown at us every night."
In UK, recorded first single, We Got the Beat, with Stiff Records, which became underground hit. Back in LA, signed with IRS in 1980. Released Beauty & the Beat 1981, did not take off till new cable channel MTV began playing first video in November. Wiedlin sang soprano interlude on Our Lips are Sealed, which she wrote with then bf Terry Hall of the Specials.
Became first all-girl rock band to enter top 100 & first #1 (&
kept Joan Jett's album
at number 2). Second
album sucked. Band careened out of control, with Carlisle & Caffey
strung out on coke & smack. After Talk Show, Jane
was pissed she wasn't allowed to sing on her song Forget That Day. Unlike the Beatles, Go-Go's only had one lead vocalist. Jane
left band in 1985:
"I had stopped doing drugs. I was just over it & I was surrounded by people who definitely weren’t. They actually got kicked out of Ozzy Osbourne’s dressing room. Can you imagine? How bad do you have to be to get kicked out of Ozzy’s dressing room?"
Recorded solo album & single Blue Kiss shot to #77 on the Billboard charts. Had Top 10 single 1988 Rush Hour, from CD Fur, something Jane doesn't like. Arrested in 1987 while protesting wearing of fur & spent five days in jail.
Played Joan of Arc in Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure; singing telegram in Clue (exclusive Jane Wiedlin audio.) Squeaky voice perfect for cartoon voice-overs. Toured with Go-Gos in 90s, released new CD God Bless the Go-Go's in 2001. With Caffey, wrote off-Broadway hit Deep Throat: the Musical, about Linda Lovelace. Appeared on Surreal Life, where has-been rapper Da Brat called Jane a has-been.
Go-Go's trivia: Recorded original version of Johnny Are You Queer, but didn't release it, only to have it become cult classic by Josie Cotton.
Moonlights as dominatrix.
Posed with burlesque star Dita von Teese.
Wore leather bondage
pants on Jeopardy: "I'm always finding an excuse to spank people! Most people
deserve a good spanking. Women have better butts for spanking but men
need to be spanked."
Jane trivia: 5'1. Plays Ibanez guitars. Shares same birthday with Ronald Reagan. Favorite bands: Heart, Patsy Cline, X, Split Enz, Sparks, Roxy Music. Lives in Panama. Producing CD for (gulp) Paris Hilton: "She wanted to make a record that sounds like a cross between Blondie & the Go-Go’s."
On Britney Spears' cover of I Love Rock n Roll: "Britney is fine, but it's really hard to outdo Joan. I'm not sure Britney really loves rock 'n' roll. Do you think she goes to Pantera concerts with her boyfriend from NSYNC? She should have done Joan's song Cherry Bomb, because doesn't she still have hers?"
On Hillary Duff's cover of Our Lips are Sealed: "As Kathy (Valentine) stated, At least Jane will make a lot of money."
On stardom: "I think that I got real bratty & had this sense of entitlement. Then when I left the band & had pretty much nothing but difficulty trying to establish myself on my own, I realized fame isn't an easy thing to get."
On the Kinsey scale: "I pretty much consider myself bisexual since I have had sex with both men & women. But I don’t really go around chasing anyone, male or female, because I am married. My husband thinks it’s cute that I like girls."
On Go-Go's reunion: "I don't think the worry is, Are the Go-Go's going to get me back on drugs? Instead it's been, Are we going to be able to get along & not lose our minds? "
On her regrets: "The permed poodle hair - I hate that! White socks with high heels & the shoulder pads & the giant jewelry."
On Go-Go's gay following: "I think we are basically a bunch of fag hags."
Jane Wiedlin.com; God Bless the Go-Go's; Jane Wiedlin Lookalike Page; Dita von Teese; Amazing true-life story of how bootleg Jane Wiedlin tape saved morale of Gulf War Marine; Go-Go's timeline; Jane Wiedlin wallpaper; Go-Go's Pacman; WIG interview with Jane; Jane as Corset Kitten Pinup; Interview with Nardwuar the Human Serviette; Bangles vs the Go-Go's; We Got the Meat: All-Male Go-Go's Tribute Band
Posted by Jeff at March 29, 2005 10:55 AM
Comments
I have an affinity for bright pop with morbid lyrics. Thus, I love "Head Over Heels"
Head over heels
Where should I go
Can't stop myself
Outta control
Head over heels
No time to think
Looks like
The whole world's out of sync
Posted by: Margi at March 29, 2005 11:56 AM
So, if a woman with too many gay friends is a "fag hag" what is a gay man with too many female friends?
Posted by: scottm at March 29, 2005 12:06 PM
Or for that matter, a straight male with too many lesbian friends?
Posted by: scottm at March 29, 2005 12:07 PM
excellent article
spookily i wondered what she was up to these days @ the weekend just past
Posted by: sodajerk at March 29, 2005 12:21 PM
There are no straight men with too many lesbian friends
Posted by: beautifulatrocities ![[TypeKey Profile Page]](/nav-commenters.gif)
at March 29, 2005 12:33 PM
"There are no straight men with too many lesbian friends."
Sure there are; they are just trapped in female bodies.
;-)
Posted by: mefish at March 29, 2005 04:31 PM
Actually I used to hang out (for a few months) with a gaggle of right-wing lesbians, until I learned I couldn't 'turn' 'em. ;)
Posted by: scottm at March 29, 2005 04:36 PM
A gay man with too many female friends...a hag fag.
Posted by: EssEmm at March 29, 2005 06:48 PM
Back when Belinda Carlisle was drumming for The Germs, I believe she also performed under the name Lorna Doom. And speaking of snack cakes, does Belinda look like Mrs. Poppin' Fresh in that first pic or what?
Posted by: utron at March 29, 2005 09:05 PM
Thanks Jeff for the trip down memory lane. I fucking loved Sparks! The Go-Gos were a fun band too at the time. 80's music was fun and interesting because it didn't take itself so seriously. These schmoes out there now barking into the mic act like their curing fucking cancer. 80's music is the one thing my wife and I share as a common interest. If you have XM radio, it's all about Fred, dude.
Posted by: Froggy at March 29, 2005 09:48 PM
I really liked "The Travelling Heart" (circa 1985).
Around five years ago my husband was producing a cartoon. He told the casting director that he needed singers that had a sound "like the Go-Gos." So the casting director delivered two Go-Gos and a Bangle (Caffey and Wiedlin; Susanna Hoffs). They were great, and were invited back for another episode.
Posted by: Attila Girl at March 29, 2005 10:06 PM
Lene Lovich was one of my favorites of that era. I wonder what ever happened to her. Loved the song "Home"
Home is where the heart is
Home is so remote
Home is just emotion
Sticking in my throat
I dont wanna go back
I dont wanna go back
I dont wanna go back anymore
Posted by: mefish at March 30, 2005 06:05 AM
The '80s...punk, garage bands...memories...weepweepweep. I hate you Jeff!
Posted by: Solomon at March 30, 2005 10:54 AM
A
And not in that "ooh, girls kissing" way neither...
=darwin
Posted by: Darwin at March 30, 2005 12:06 PM
Bleh, that was "I *heart* Lesbians" ...
=darwin
Posted by: Darwin at March 30, 2005 12:07 PM
Congrats on finding the first ugly pic of Blender the Carlisle I have ever seen :p.
I've always been "mad about Belinda" ever since I first saw the video "Heaven is a Place on Earth". So reading this about cohort Jane Wiedlen along with some background on the Carlisle Chronicles has been pretty interesting. Along with being what I thought was the quintessential hip chick in the 80's, Belinda also looked like a girl I had a mad, mad crush on for the majority of that decade. I guess Patsy Cline would have called that crazy...
Posted by: Martin at Blogbat at March 30, 2005 04:02 PM
She's still beautiful! She's still popular in England, & has sold out Wembley Stadium
Posted by: beautifulatrocities at March 30, 2005 04:04 PM
Damnit damnit damnit! I'm getting all these flashbacks with A Flock of Seagulls at my back crying Tears for Fears while Men at Work tangle with a Def Leppard in a bout of Madness.
Spandex. Hairspray. Sex and Bon Jovi. The 80's been very very good to me.
Posted by: Jacques "Y-2-DRAY" at March 30, 2005 04:10 PM
i had a mad crush on her when "fur" came out. my best friend was really into prince and shook his head with disgust whenever i traded out the cassette tapes in his volkswagon dasher. ah tenth grade-- buying 2 liter plastic bottles of peach wine cooler with a fake ID and cruising the main street of bozeman, montana.
truly we were gods.
thanks for the memories
Posted by: gatsby at March 30, 2005 10:59 PM
I sat behind Jane Weidlin in Geometry II; was fairly good friends with her brother Matt (we made a film in super 8 in HS) and Joan Jett was not a fellow Alum.
In fact, one of my most embarrassing memories was, after dropping Matt off at Wiedlin home - following a night of beer drinking and such - my friends and I yelled at the house as a taunt to the "Hollywooder/glam" dresser Jane, "Bowie is a fag". [ed. please realize this is a story about embarrassment and growth so don't jump to conclusions]
The following Monday, in class, Jane dropped over her shoulder onto my desk a letter folded up real small and tight into a triangle shape. Inside, in large loopy letters, she chastised me properly for being an immature bigoted fool. She also went on to explain that Bowie was a great writer and musician - that she referred specifically to his saxaphone playing I never understood, cause I agree and still own a vinyl version of "Ziggy", but I'm digressin'.
Ok, as necessary, I was contrite and humiliated and such - which, years later was heightened by her tremenous success in the Go Go's and such. In fact, and only with her reappearance on the equally embarrassing and humiliating tv show, "Surreal World", have I been able to find the strength forgive myself.
I dropped out of Geometry II midway through semester; and I'll bet Jane got an A, cause she is real smart. Smart enough to stand her ground and put me in my place - and help me grow.
And "no", for those who struggled all this way, I've not seen Jane since graduating from Taft High 30 years ago.
Posted by: Tom vG at April 18, 2005 01:31 PM
Jane you rock! I don't care what a certian person said on the surreal life.....your still rockin! Thanks for always keepin it real! I love you! Take Care
Posted by: Jennifer at April 30, 2005 05:26 PM